BOOK REVIEWS

LATIN-AMEIcAN LEGAL PHILOsoP Y. By Luis Recas~ns Siches, Carlos

Cossio, Juan Llamblas de Azevedo, and Eduardo Garcia Miynez.
Translated by Gordon Ireland, Milton R. Konvitz, Miguel A. de
Capriles, and Jorge Roberto Hayzus. Introduction by Josef L. Kunz.
The Twentieth Century Legal Philosophy Series. Cambridge: Har-
vard University Press, 1948. Pp. xxxvii, 557. $6.00.
This volume of translations of the works of certain eminent Latin-
American legal philosophers is one of the Twentieth Century Legal Phil-
osophy Series, published under the auspices of the Association -of American
Law Schools. As such it is the special concern of the law teaching pro-
fession and, therefore, of the readers of this JoutNAi,. The editorial com-
mittee in charge of the Series is to be congratulated not merely on its choice
of material for inclusion in the volume, but also and in particular on its
success in obtaining such admirably competent translators.
Though the present task of the committee is done with the publication
of the translations from the Spanish, the same cannot be said for the reader.
For him, at least if he has no more than the usual passing acquaintance with
phenomenology and existentialism, the work of translation has only just be-
gun. Fortunately, there is an extremely helpful introduction to the general
subject of Latin-American legal philosophy and an appraisal of the work
of each of the authors included, by Professor Josef L. Kunz. This intro-
duction is both learned and clear, an extremely rare phenomenon in the field
of legal philosophy.
In the Introduction, Professor Kunz gives a brief account of the complete
absorption of Latin-American legal philosophy with the German philosophical
movement known as phenomenology and with Kelsenism. He explains in
a few simple words what these doctrines rest upon. Then he outlines very
briefly the scope and purpose of each of the translated works. A short
estimate of the importance of these writings in the field of legal philosophy
closes the Introduction. The reviewer had the feeling that if this excellent
introduction had not been included, most American readers would not have
gotten beyond a dozen pages of the text.
The volume contains translations entitled "Human Life, Society and Law,"
by Luis Recas6ns Siches of the National University of Mexico; "Phen-
omenology of the Decision," by Carlos Cossio of the University of La
Plata, Argentina: "The Eidetics and Aporetics of Law," by Juan Llambias
de Azevedo of the University of Montevideo, Uruguay; and the "Philo-
sophical-Juridical Problem of the Validity of Law" and "Liberty as
Right and as Power," by Eduardo Garcia Miynez, formerly Secretary-Gen-
eral of the National University of Mexico. The first-named work, that of
Recas~ns Siches, is a whole book in itself and takes up three-fifths of the
entire volume of translations.
The complete title of Recas6ns Siches' book is Human Life, Society and
Law: Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Law. This title is intended to
455
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION (VOL. 1
be taken seriously. Human life, society, and law are the foundations of
the author's philosophy of law. What does it mean, then, to say that "human
life" is fundamental for the philosophy of law? Is it conceivable that
something other than human life could be the basis of legal philosophy?
Obviously not. Therefore the author must mean that in some way or other
"human life" is the central core of his philosophy. Not reason, therefore,
nor morality-certainly not physical science nor even psychological or socio-
logical science-but just life itself is the fundamental affirmation of Recas6ns
Siches' legal philosophy. If this still appears a trifle stuffy, the sequel will
have to try to show that the "human life" philosophy is an important if not
.critical modern Weltanschauung.
At any rate, the first chapter of the book distinguishes the Universe,
Human Life, Society, and Law. A long-drawn-out "genus-species" dif-
ferentiation, beginning with the literal Universe and ending with juristics,
-establishes the following fundamental propositions:
1. That the Law belongs to the zone of the Universe which [is] char-
acterized as objectivated human life; and that, as such, it is constituted
of a complex of significations of a purposeful structure, with a meaning
and intentionally directed toward certain values.
2. That those significations have a normative form.
3. That it constitutes a norm of historical content: the human inter-
pretation, at any given moment of the exigencies of certain values, con-
ditioned by given circumstances.
4. That it is something of a social or collective kind: a form of life not
individual, but collective, abstract, common, functional. 1
Now, I suppose it would be asking too much of a scholar trained in Ger-
man philosophy to start with the four propositions above as generally ad-
.mitted or, if not, at least as perfectly understood, and thus save sixty-six
_pages of closely written text.
The sentence immediately following the four quoted above is this:
But, on the one hand, we fail to learn the difference between the Law
and other norms (of human conduct), as, for example, morals, decorum,
etc.; and to differentiate it also from other social products. And, on the
other hand, we fail 2
as well to inquire what is the essential meaning of
juristics, as such.
Determining the meaning of juristics "as such" carries us to page 134.
This whole section, the first eight chapters of the book, is an example of
modem European-more specifically, German-analytical jurisprudence.
When, in the present century, the Germans "discovered" analytical jurispru-
dence and used it either as a form of Neo-Kantianism or phenomenologism,
it quickly circumnavigated the globe, becoming immensely popular in almost
all centers of learning in civil-law countries. Kelsen, of course, was the
chief exponent of the system. With him the matter took on a logical-posi-
tivistic cast and Kantian philosophy was made to serve culture-theory ends.
Latin America adopted Kelsen whole-heartedly at first and then later pro-
ceeded to nibble away at his vitals. Some rejected his pure theory of law,
refusing to believe that norms, legal or other, could exist a priori (wholly
I-P. 67.
2Ibi.
19491 BOOK REVmEWS

apart from experience). Others attacked his separation of law and morals
and insisted on getting the two together theoretically and on principle rather
than in the Kelsenian fashion: "somehow or other."
The influence of Kelsen in popularizing the concept of "norm" as the
basic undefined legal conception was and still is paramount in Latin America
as elsewhere. What a norm is remains for all writers under the influence
of Kelsen an implicitly understood "first cause, itself uncaused."
In as much as logical-positivism is a philosophical outlook rather than a
consistent system of metaphysics, its effect on legal philosophy is difficult to
assay. But what of phenomenology and later of existentialism? These
do purport to be complete philosophical systems. It can be said at once that
for the legal philosophers here represented these doctrines are the very
foundations of their thinking. In fact there is nothing specifically Latin-
Ame1iican about their philosophy, and Latin-American influences are ap-
parently absent except in the discussions on the subject of liberty.
- Professor Kunz gives us an outline of the basic tenets of both phenomen-
oiogy and existentialism. They are twentieth-century versions of seven-
teenth-century rationalism. They begin, as did Descartes, with the method
of indisputable first principles. For the Cartesian indubitable doubt they
substitute indubitable emotion, or indubitable life (Ortego and Siches) or
indubitable existence (existentialism). For them science must begin with
such inescapable "beginnings" or "first principles." These are never recom-
mended merely as fruitful starting points, or as personal to their originators.
Each must be indubitably true, even though they differ one from another.
After the first principle is arrived at, then, by a process which takes the
place of the old-fashioned seventeenth- and eighteenth-century "deduction,"
other truths (indubitable of course) are arrived at. This process is nothing
other than the mature and careful reflection of the thinker who happens
to be working at the time. That which is furthest from the practice of all
phenomenologists is the notion that the product of their thought must be
put to the test of experience, and if it is to be truly fruitful, must ultimately
form an integral part of experiment. Without saying so, the phenomenolo-
gists are in temper and deed anti-scientific and anti-experimentalist.
Recas6ns Siches' notions of science are outmoded. His ideas of physical
science date back to the middle of the nineteenth century. There is no hint
in the book of a realization of the meaning of the "non-Euclidean," post-
Newtonian ways of thinking which now characterize scientific speculation.
He treats psychology (and with it sociology) as did Husserl. Consequently,
the vital influence of European volitional psychology, becoming now an in-
tegral part of American social psychology, anthropology, and other social
studies, is altogether absent. The anthropology that is evident goes no farther
than Levy-Bruhl.3
Recas6ns Siches follows the logical-positivistic separation of law from
morals. This is in the best tradition of analytical jurisprudence and has the
same unfortunate results. After law is over and done with and accepted as
such, then morals enters to repair the damage.
s See p. 119.
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION ['VOL. I
Again in the analytical tradition is the notion that the hallmark of law is
force ("inexorable imposition" is Recas6ns Siches' term). 4 Since this is
taken as an essential part of the definition of law, it is not hard for the author
(as it was not hard for Austin before him) to show that any alternative
social constraint which is not "inexorably imposed" is therefore ex definitione
not law. Such restrictive definitions have the effect of creating an autono-
mous "science of law," relatively immune from criticism by other social dis-
ciplines, since, as with Austin, these subjects do not touch law proper, but
deal only with morals, custom, society, etc.
The human individual is another of Recasrns Siches' sacred entities.
With all the fervor of the German romantics, Recasrns Siches cuts off
the "ineffable individual" from the society which contains him and places
him at the center of the universe. I and the world in relation to me, or
conversely, the world and I in relation to it, are the foundation of this type
of personalism. Never will this Spanish ultra-individualist let the individual
lose himself in order to gain a world. Narcissism is elevated to the position
of a world philosophy in a world whose individuals are no longer battling
each to save "himself" but rather to save "the whole." Eighteenth-century
romanticism helps little in an age which knows that older ideas of the
"precious individual" are fatally inadequate for it.
The last section of the book deals with "juridical valuation," the problem
of justice through law. 5 In keeping with the tenets of analytical jurispru-
dence, the determination of the goodness or badness of a law has nothing
to do with the law itself. This problem is put "before the forum of con-
science." 6 All positive laws aim at justice, says Recas6ns Siches. If they
fail, it is a matter of failed intention.7 Conscience, then, must subject the
law to rigorous scrutiny to determine whether its precepts are just or not.
The search for a criterion of value is then undertaken.8 Is the basic
foundation of juridical valuation empirical or a priori? It is a priori! Are
the a priori ideas psychological or are they objective ideas with necessary
validity? They are objective ideas with necessary validity! What then of
experience? It must be brought in somehow. But first, the notion of ob-
jective ideas existingoa priori (apart from experience) must be explained.
I shall have to turn over to the reader Recas~ns Siches' attempt to com-
bine the new rationalism (objective a priori) with the facts of experience.
It is hard enough nowadays to make sense of the Kantian formal a priori,
which seems to the reviewer to be the basis of modern scientific postula-
tional systems, without following the post-Kantian anti-scientific nonsense
down to Hartmann in a vain attempt to understand "objective a priori."
This must be left to the intuition of the reader, to be grasped "immediately"
in a flash of blinding insight or to be rejected in an equally instantaneous and
unalterable distrust.
What, then, have American students of law to learn from these Latin-
American legal philosophers? If we answer, not much, we must remember
4 P. 84.
5 Chapter XII et seq.
6P. 231.
7 P. 236.
s P. 238.
19491 BOOK REVIEWS

that we have not much more to learn from our own American philosophers.
The failure of American philosophy to enter intimately into the life of the
sciences and the social disciplines is notorious. The social disciplines are
sending the law teachers increasing numbers of students whose sophistica-
tion in social-science matters is causing us much embarrassment. The same
cannot be said for our departments of philosophy. They seem to be re-
viving the ancient Greek distinction between wisdom and science. And
whereas psychology and the social disciplines are challenging our notions
of what a "science of law" should be like, our philosophers offer us at
the best non-scientific and at the worst anti-scientific "wisdom." If we
feel as Aristotle did that science culminates in wisdom, that without science
wisdom is impossible, the phenomenologists, legal or otherwise, are likely
to leave us cold. If we feel, as did St. Augustine, that science really has
nothing to do with wisdom, we may seek wisdom wherever we can find it.
And certainly these Latin-American legal philosophers are wise ! Perhaps we
should keep in mind that all modern legal philosophers are wiser than their
philosophical systems would lead us to expect them to be. Stammler is a
notorious example. Kelsen is another. I hope this means that these par-
ticular legal philosophical systems were much too insubstantial for. the
weight they were designed to carry. I hope it does not mean that philosophy
of science is doomed to continue long as an inadequate foundation for
science which now is under serious secular attack.
Carlos Cossio's article on "Phenomenology of the Decision" will be ex-
ceedingly rough going for the American law-trained reader. It is well to
split the work into two parts.9 Sections 1, 2, and 3 are devoted to general
philosophical speculation; Section 4, on Juridical Experience, and particu-
larly Section 5, on Juridical Valuation, are quite readable. Section 6 is a
summary which also is not too difficult to understand. The whole is the
Introduction to his book, La Teoria .Egologicadel Derecho y el Concepto
Juridico de Libertad.10
The first three sections of this article are a hodge-podge of German meta-
physical nonsense. Some of it appears to have been translated literally from
the German to the Spanish. Dr. Ireland had the thankless task then of
translating this Germanized Spanish into English. He deserves our sym-
pathy.
Carlos Cossio calls his doctrine the "Egological Theory of Law." But
what "egological" means successfully defied the analytical powers of this
reviewer. Evidently the translator was equally disturbed, because, after
corresponding with the author on the meaning of the term, he was forced
to set out the reply at length in a footnote.-" The reader is invited to try his
luck with that riddle.
The first section of the article promises a phenomenological investiga-
tion of the nature of the judicial decision. We learn that the egological
theory rejects legal rationalism (the objects to be known by the jurist are
not legal rules, but human conduct). 2 It likewise rejects empiricism
9 Section 4, p. 369.
10 1944.
P. 345.
12 P. 348.
1 JOuRNAL OF LEGAL D4D.N0.3-9
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL,. I
(since human conduct is an object of experience radically different from
natural objects; it is an experience of liberty in which the creation of some-
thing original appears every instant)y3
-That much is clear. Then follows the hodge-podge of Aristotelian, Kan-
tian, Husserlian, Diltheyan, Kelsenian metaphysics. One example must suf-
ice-an attempted explanation of the nature of comprehension:
.. .Comprehension seems somewhat like intellection: it also is
a seeing with the intelligence; but it is not a seeing which implies noth-
ing more than the seeing, for it is a seeing which sees the coming to see
which refers the seeing to the I; that is, which sees what it sees as seen,
just as what we love we love as beloved and what we desire we desire
as desired; something which does not happen in intellection where the
seen is seen as it is, but not with the quality of seen since this quality
does not constitute the being of what is seen here. On the other hand,
in the comprehension of what is seen it is seen with the quality of seen
because this quality forms the being of what is seen: if what we love we
love with the quality of beloved it is because that being beloved forms
the very object loved. This example is particularly illustrative . 14

In despair, the translator reproduced the Spanish text of the original to-
gether with a German version supplied to Professor Cossio by a German
colleague.
Beginning with Section 4, the phenomenological influence rapidly wanes
and a Neo-Kantian philosophical apparatus appears. "Formal and ma-
terial," "logical structure and empirical content," "necessary and con-
tingent" are the dichotomies which come into play. The Kantian a priori,
which seems to be used by Cossio to mean "presupposition" and not "that
which is devoid of experience," is the basis for his theory of juridical
valuation. The question of justice (value) enters into the very meaning
and nature of the decision from the beginning. It is a priori in the judge's
thought and action. Section 5 elaborates this theme by illustrations taken
from Argentinian law. Here Cossio is at his best, in the opinion of the
reviewer. He argues very effectively for value (justice) as an integral
part of law and thus ranges himself against the analytical jurists. Thus,
at least so far as this introduction is concerned, the philosophical influences
of Kant and Stammler are really more important for Cossio than those
of Husserl and his followers. To the reviewer, they represent by far the
best part of Cossio's legal philosophy.
The Introduction to Cossio's work here translated is the same as that
which appeared under the heading "Phenomenology of the Judgment" in
Interpretationsof Modern Legal Philosophies, Essays in Honor of Roscoe
Pound. It is hard to understand why the editors of the Series felt that this
work should be re-issued, even conceding the superiority of Dr. Ireland's
translation. It would have been infinitely more informing for American
readers to have had translated some of Professor Cossio's less technically
philosophical works or even the sections of his book devoted to "Liberty,"
where the egological theory of law can be more easily examined.

13 Ibid.
14 Pp. 356-357.
1 JOURNAL OF LEoiL ED.No.3
1949] BOOK REVIEWS

"The Eidetics and Aporetics of Law," by Juan Llambias de Azevedo,

is another essay in phenomenology. Following Hartmann, the author divides
his problem into three parts: first, to describe phenomena; second, to
elaborate the problems which phenomena pose; and- third, to investigate
solutions.' 5 Eidetics is the science of essences. Essence is what is found
in the very being of an individual object. But everything which belongs
to the essence of an individual another may also have. Therefore "the
essence or eidos is a new class of object: A universal object or species,
ideal, nontemporal, perfectly distinct from the individual object, which is
real and exists, consequently, here and now." '6 Aporetics is the science
of the analysis of the problem which the eidos of a phenomenon raises.
The reader is invited to follow for himself the extended analysis of the
nature of law from this standpoint.
The volume of translations closes with two articles by Garcia Mfiynez,
called "The Philosophical-Juridical Problem of the Validity of Law" and
"Liberty as Right and as Power." These are further illustrations of the
influence of Kelsen and the phenomenologists on Latin-America legal thought.
Enough has been said in connection with the work of Recas6ns Siches and
Cossio to indicate the nature of the philosophical foundations of this im-
portant writer. With him as with the rest, Kelsen is the starting point and
phenomenology the basic philosophical position.
It is time now to turn to a leading question which contemplation of this
exceedingly "foreign" legal writing is bound to raise: Why have the recent
German philosophers had so little influence on American legal thought,
and why is American legal thought so conspicuous by its absence from
Latin-American legal speculation? A volume could easily be written on
the subject, but this much at least can be indicated briefly. Phenomenology
is arm-chair philosophy. It ignores science-especially experimental science.
It is useful therefore to attack science or to speculate with in the absence of
science. The same is true of the "pure theory of law" part of Kelsen's
teachings. Consequently legal philosophers throughout the world can use
these systems -or parts of systems in vacuo. But as was indicated above,
the pressure on legal theoreticians in this country is from the psychological
and sociological disciplines which have never had a Neo-Kantian or phenome-
nological revolt against positivism but which went directly from mid-nine-
teenth-century positivism to pragmatism and to Deweyan operationalism, ex-
perimentalism, and other forms of philosophical creed that come closely to
grips with problems of scientific method. To the extent that this philosophical
climate of opinion explains the cool reception given to phenomenology and
pure theory by American social scientists, it would also explain why Amer-
ican legal and social-scientific "folkways" are uncongenial to the Latin
Americans. They have taken our refrigerators and automobiles, but ap-
parently balk at our belt-line productions in psychology, social science, and
law.
THOMAS A. COwAN.
Wayne University.
15 p. 408.
.1Op. 407.
462 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. 1

CASES ON EVIDENCE. Second Edition. By Charles T.. McCormick. St.

Paul: West Publishing Company, 1948. Pp. xxii, 1097, $8.50.
It is manifest from this second edition that Dean McCormick's eight
years of teaching experience with his first edition left him reasonably well
satisfied with its basic qualities as a teaching tool. There is nothing in the
way of radical innovation or revision in the new edition.
The length is increased by sixty-three pages, better than half of which
is accounted for by the reproduction, at the end of each section, of the
pertinent rules from the American Law Institute's Model Code of Evidence,
Addition of sixty-six cases and deletion of eighty-five spells a net reduction
of nineteen. In the Preface the author lists his suggestions for omissions
which will reduce the materials to about nine hundred pages-that is, in a
course of sixty class hours, to a necessary average coverage of fifteen, in-
stead of eighteen, pages per hour.
The book retains the policy of concentration on recent decisions and,
in the language of both the new and the old prefaces, "'the abandonment
of the effort to teach the history and development of the doctrines by cases."
About two-thirds of the new cases were decided after publication of the
first edition in 1940. Most of the space for them was made available by
deletion of cases which were recent when that edition was published-cases
decided from 1920 to 1939. Probably the most questionable deletion is that
of Higharn v. Ridgway ' from the section on Declarations against Interest.
The presentation of topics entirely by textual material has been slightly
increased by adopting this method for Dying Declarations. The use of
law review materials to supplement cases has also been increased, principally
3
in the sections on Relevancy in General 2 and Scientific Evidence.
The major innovation, not radical, but of some significance, is inclusion
in the section on Scientific Evidence of twenty suggested problems for extra-
class preparation and classroom report. All are designed to stimulate
student interest in the utilization of scientific techniques. The best of them
(better than half) are those which concentrate the student's thinking on
exploring scientific possibilities in preparing for trial, by contrast with those
which pose a question as to whether specific evidence should be admitted
or excluded.
In incorporating such problem work into a course there are, of course,
two possible values-the major value to the individual student, derived from
working on his problem, and the secondary value to students generally, de-
rived from hearing and discussing good reports from their fellows. How
much class time the latter deserves is a question not peculiar to this book
or this course. Decisions of this reviewer concerning it have always been
so tentative that the profession is unlikely to suffer if he refrains from
proffering advice.

110 East 109, 103 Eng.Rep. 717 (K.B.1808).

2Excerpts from James, Relevancy, Probabilityan4 the Law, 29 CALIF.L.REV. 089
(1941), appear at pages 448-459.
3 Excerpts from Smallwood, Lie Detectors: Discussion ai Proposals, 29 Coux.
L.Q. 535 (1944), appear at pages 575-583.
19491 BOOK REVIEWS

The organization of the second edition remains virtually identical with

that of the first except in one respect. In the first edition, in the chapter on
Privilege, the sections dealing with Offers of Compromise and Remedial
Measures After an Injury were, respectively, the fourth and fifth of eight
sections. In the second edition they are Sections 7 and 8. The result of
this shift is to place them in more immediate juxtaposition to the chapter
on Relevancy. One wonders, therefore, if Dean McCormick is weakening
slightly in his theory that the exclusion of such evidence rests upon privilege
rather than upon irrelevancy. 4 It is, incidentally, the opinion of this re-
viewer that any attempt to cram these exclusions into either a pigeon-hole
marked "Irrelevancy" or a pigeon-hole marked "Privilege" involves an ap-
preciable distortion and at least a modicum of conceptual highjinks. They
are based upon obvious policy considerations, but it does not follow that
they must be made to fit in the same legal slot as communications between
attorney and client or between husband and wife. 5
This reviewer has taught as much of the second edition as he could cover
in a summer session. He found it, as he found the first edition, a very
satisfactory book to teach. He believes it has been improved for teaching
purposes by the addition of the substantial number of very recent cases and
the inclusion of the Model Code rules. He believes that the continued policy
of selectinig cases which set forth the critical evidence verbatim, or nearly
so, is a distinct advantage; and that, from the standpoint of presenting fact
situations which naturally arouse a student's interest, the selection of cases
continues to be a very happy one. There are, naturally, a few things which
the reviewer would have done differently, but he cannot believe that the
profession has such a consuming interest in them as to justify their exposi-
tion.
In summary, if for some obscure or inexplicable reason you found the
first edition pedagogically unpalatable, you are unlikely to find that the second
edition contains enough new ingredients to affect the basic flavor. But if,
like this reviewer, you found the first edition more than satisfactory, you
will find the second edition better.
HINRY BRANDIS, JR.
University of North Carolina.

HANDBOOK OF THE PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY. Second Edition. By Henry

L. McClintock. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1948. Pp. xxxii,
643. $6.50.
The first edition of this book was generally well received, and some re-
viewers welcomed it with enthusiasm. A good elementary book has been
very significantly improved in the second edition. There is abundant evi-
dence, as stated in the Preface, that "every section has been revised and
very largely rewritten," 1 and one is confident that even those sections left
4 McCormick, The Scope of Privilege in the Law of Evidence, 16 TEX. .RE. 447
(1938).
50f. AM.ERICANx LAWv INSTITUTE, MODEL CODE OF EVIDENCE, which treats these
matters, not under Relevancy, but under Chapter IV, Admissibility as Affected by
Considerations of Extrinsic Policy.
IP. V.
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. I
untouched were given careful reconsideration. The limitations imposed by
the hornbook form of treatment and, for that matter, any single-volume
publication, prevent a full and adequate treatment of a subject as compre-
hensive as equity. Criticism has been directed at attempts to circumscribe
so narrowly the treatment of such subjects. That criticism aside, Professor
McClintock has produced an excellent hornbook on this subject. It will
be used to advantage by students who desire to consult texts. The Preface
to this edition states that there is an "increasing tendency" among practicing
lawyers to use the hornbook series.2 If this is true, this book should pro-
vide an impetus to that tendency.
Moreover, the second edition is a much larger volume-643 pages as
against 421-than the earlier edition. The expansion is due to a more ex-
tended treatment of the topics of existing sections rather than the inclu-
sion of other materials. In fact, there are only seven new sections. In a
few instances a particular section'is expanded by adding similar subject mat-
ter omitted in the prior edition. For example, Section 145, Franchise, is
now Section 150, Franchises and Other Exclusive Privileges, and is almost
twice as long. The general plan of the book is unchanged. The table of
law review articles is increased from four and one-half to ten pages, and
each page carries a longer list of articles. Forty-five double-column pages
are required to carry the Table of Cases, and the Index extends over thirty-
two pages as against twenty-one in the first edition.
It is gratifying to observe that the author continues and perhaps even
extends his policy of taking a specific position on controversial topics. He
is not deterred from advocating the real necessity for the existence of dis-
cretionary powers in the chancellor despite the undemocratic origin of that
doctrine and the historic difficulty experienced in its control.3 He still be-
lieves that a remedy which does not produce satisfaction because of the in-
solvency of the defendant is an inadequate remedy, making possible resort
to equitable remedies which would otherwise be unavailable- 4 a position
opposed by worthy authorities. Apparently, he is untroubled that the "rule
has been relaxed" which required the assignee of a purchaser in a land
contract to tender the purchaser's note and mortgage in a specific perform-
ance suit, thus favoring the realistic view that the land is the real basis of
the credit extension and not the personal credit of the purchaser. 5 He favors
Professor Pomeroy's view that community of interest in law and fact is
sufficient jurisdictional basis for bills of peace,6 subject to the carefully
guarded limitation later approved in Pomeroy's work. He approves Pro-
fessor Chafee's suggested reforms which would remove as essentials to the
bill of interpleader the requirements of privity, same thing, debt, or duty,
independent liability, and non-interest of the applicant7 He would go even
further, and remove as a requirement the affidavit of non-collusion for which
"no satisfactory explanation has ever been given" ;8 nor would he require
2 ibi.
3 See 54, 144, and 145.
4 See 47.
5 See p. 311, 115.
6 See e. 17.
7 See c. 18.
8 See p. 508, 188.
1949] 1300K REVIEWS

the applicant to drop out at the first stage of the proceeding. As to the test
of a cloud on title, he considers that to be a cloud which factually might.
interfere with the sale, including oral claims, wild deeds, defects appearing
on the face of the instrument, etc.9 He unhesitatingly champions the minority
view which permits an injunction to restrain the enforcement of a judgment
secured by perjured testimony, and thinks that "we cannot expect a lay public
to have a very high opinion of a sysiem of justice which can give no relief
against perjury if the perjurer is successful in concealing his fraud during
the first trial." 10
On the other hand, it is disappointing to find the maxim, "Equity regards
that as done which ought to be done," made the basis of equitable conver-
sion. 11 If the chapter on equitable conversion were part of the chapter on
specific performance the real basis would be obvious. Harder blows might
have been struck at equity's self-imposed limitation requiring a property
right to support jurisdiction in cases involving interests in personality,12
and at the notion that licensed practitioners acquire with their license a
property right, called a franchise, and relying thereon can proceed in equity
to protect that property although the statutes concerned were designed for
totally different purposes. The author very properly criticises equity's fail-
ure to protect adequately against defamation of property and indicates that
the cases do not effectively support the "social policies" involved.13 It is
to be regretted that the declaratory judgment is not presented as an easy
device for disposing of many of the questions arising in cases involving the
termination of equitable servitudes because of changed conditions, 14 as is
so effectively done in connection with the protection of associational rela-
tions,' 5 in certain interpleader problems, 16 and in some phases of statutory
substitutes for quieting title. 17
Following the hornbook formula, Professor McClintock has lucidly and
succinctly stated the principles of equity in the black-letter paragraphs. In
a direct and perspicuous style he elaborates those principles in a text amply
documented with notes and citations. The volume is an authoritative pres-
entation of the elementary principles of equity, and a careful reading of the
book is both a pleasurable and profitable experience.
HARRY W. VANNE MAN.
Ohio State University.
9 See 196.
loP. 462.
11 See 106.
12 See cc. 13 and 14.
13 See 156.
14 See 128.
15 Sec. 161.
16 See 190.
17 See 199.
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. I

CASES ON EQUITY. By Walter Wheeler Cook. Fourth Single Volume

Edition. By M. T. Van Hecke. St. Paul: West Publishing Company,
1948. Pp. xxxii, 1192. $8.50.
The only justification for a review of the fourth edition of a casebook
as well known as Cook's Cases on Equity, single volume edition, is a con-
sideration of its differences from the last edition. Professor Van Hecke,
in the Preface, states that these differences consist of the use of materials
since 1939 to point recent trends and developments, changes in order of
treatment, and a more extensive use of textual materials.
Approximately 315 of the cases in the third edition have been retained,
and about 110 omitted. In many instances recent, well selected cases have
been substituted, or text materials used. Occasionally a topic has been
omitted or its treatment contracted, as, for example, vendor and vendee
liens and strict foreclosure. Among the old friends which will be missed are
2
Lowndes v. Bettle,' Great Northern Railway v. Brosseau, PrudentialAssur-
3 4
ance Company v. Knott, American Mercury, Inc. v. Chase, Commonwealth
5 Company v. Hardman,o to mention
v. McGovern, and Whitwood Chemical
only a few. Space considerations probably account for the failure of so
many of the omitted cases to find their way into the footnotes. Since the
volume is reduced by 105 pages, it is disappointing that the footnotes, which
have always been rather meager in this work, were not expanded, at least
to include these leading cases.
Three minor changes in the order of the treatment of materials deserve
mention. The nuisance problem presented by the Tennessee Copper Con-
pany cases is taken from the chapter on Adequacy of Remedies and placed
in the Relative Hardship chapter, in which the balance of equities is the main
theme. Declaratory Judgments is made a separate chapter, but it consists
of an introductory text note, statutes, and the Haworth case only. The
Preface indicates and the Index shows that a considerable number of declara-
tory judgment cases have been selected primarily for other purposes; in some
instances these are the same cases used and brought together by Professor
Cook to develop this remedy. Pedagogical difficulties in the presentation
of this important and expanding remedy are involved in this change, in so
far as remedial matters are discussed in the cases. An improvement results
from the shifting of the cases on "election between remedies" from the sec-
tion on Misrepresentation and Nondisclosure to the section on Defenses as
the subtopic Election of Remedies, although some preciseness of application
to the former topic may b6 lost.
The most significant change in the order of treatment, however, is the
placing in Part 6, at the very end of the book, of materials heretofore found
at the beginning. Chapter 1 of Part 6, The Meaning of Jurisdiction as
Used in Equity Cases, comes from Chapter 3, Part 1, of the third edition,
133 L.3.Ch. 451, 3 New Rep. 409 (1864).
2286 Fed. 414 (D.N.D.1923).
3 10 Ch.App. 142 (1875).
4 13 F.2d 224 (D.Mass.3 926.)
5 116 Ky. 212, 75 S.W. 261 (1903).
6 2 Ch.D. 416 (1891).
1949] BOOK REVIEWS

Principles Governing the Exercise of Equitable Powers. Chapter 2 of Part

6, The Powers of Courts of Equity, consisting of four sections covering
methods of enforcing equitable decrees, the legal effect of such decrees, and
powers over persons and things within and without the jurisdiction, is taken
from the old Chapter 2 of Part 1. The section On the "conflict" of equity
with common law, a favorite theme of Professor Cook, is gone. Chapter
3 of Part 6, The Procedures of Courts of Equity, consists of "fusion" stat-
utes and pages 91-112 from the second edition of Clark's Code Pleading.'
The reason given for this radical change is that the materials "seem to have
greater significance after the class has seen the various remedies in opera-
tion." 7 One who thinks that, notwithstanding the difficulty involved, the
student should study these materials first may still use this book by assign-
ing Part 6 after Part 1. A teacher in a state school who desires to do so
may find it quite satisfactory to supplement the text material in Chapter 3
with cases from his own jurisdiction.
Finally, in line with the trend evidenced in recent casebooks, there is a
considerable increase in materials other than court opinions. Extracts from
legal periodicals, Restatements, and textbooks, and text notes constitute
approximately 130 of the 1179 pages of the book. To this should be added
about fifty instances of paragraph extracts from recent cases, which have
value largely as test materials. These plus the many statutes which are
included cover thirty-five to forty pages. No non-legal materials are used.
A new edition of a casebook should preserve the general pattern and
essential merits of the old. It should manifest further investigation, re-
search, and scholarship, evidencing serious effort to improve the old as a
teaching tool. Professor Cook's chief purpose was to present to the student
the place and function of equity in our law today in as comprehensive a
form as possible in a single volume. The fourth edition is still Cook's
Cases on Equity. Professor Van Hecke has given us a real revision of a
book which has been improved by his mature and fruitful scholarship.
The book should continue to hold its prominent position among the case-
books on equity.
HARRY W. VANNDMAN.

Ohio State University.

ESSAYS ON TEr CONFLICT OF LAWS: By John Delatre Falconbridge,

Toronto: Canada Law Book Company, Ltd., 1947. Pp. xxi, 730.
$8.00.
Students of the conflict of laws are familiar with the articles and com-
ments by Dean Falconbridge in the Law Quarterly Review, the Canadian
Bar Review, and other leading legal periodicals. The present book is es-
sentially a collection of articles and case comments that have previously
appeared. However, new introductory chapters have been written, other
portions have been added, and substantial revision and deletion has avoided
the duplication that would arise from a mere collection of articles and com-
ments. Remaining, none the less, a collection of such material, the volume
possesses certain more or less inherent characteristics. It is not a continu-
7 P. vii.
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. I
ous text, and there is sketchiness and repetition. It is, however, a valuable
collection and a reference book of importance in the field.
Of great interest to the reviewer is the development of the auth6r's
ideas through the years. This is particularly true, for example, with respect
to the renvoi problem. Chapter II, written as one of the introductory chap-
ters for this collection, seems only mildly hostile to renwoi. The author ap-
parently feels that the technique may be valuable in many types of cases,
and should be an instrument available to the competent workman. In Chap-
ter VII, however, which reproduces a 1930 article with some revisions, the
general attitude is that the "supposed authorities for the renvoi are, to say
the least, singularly weak, and that any advantages it is supposed to possess
either disappear on examination or are outweighed by its disadvantages."
In Chapter VIII, reproducing an article first appearing in 1939, the author'
admits that the doctrine may "afford a useful, sometimes even an inevitable,
device in some exceptional classes of cases." He states that perhaps, if at-
tention were focused on these special classes, there would be less need to
put oneself absolutely in the camp of the advocates or of the opponents of
the doctrines. This mellowing, though still doubting, attitude toward rcnvoi
seems to be further exemplified in Chapter IX, which reproduces a 1941
article.
Certain disagreements are bound to arise in the discussion of renvoi.
Room for disagreement arises when Dean Falconbridge speaks of a refer-
ence to what seems to be the totality of the law or the conflicts law of a cer-
tain system as if it were a reference to a domestic, local, or municipal law.
For example, a reference to a treaty provision that the national law shall
control citizens of one of the signatories seems to be a reference to a con-
flicts rule, since it is a reference to a particular rule of the system of law
governing a conflict situation. The same seems true of a reference to a rule
that the local requirement of registration of conditional sales does not ap-
ply to sales in other states, and to the "borrowing statutes" relating to the
formal validity of wills and the statute of limitations.
It is suggested that one of the best arguments for renvoi is stated by its
objectors when they point out that in the case of status and immovables
renvoi is good and necessary because of the desire for uniformity. It seems
also that renvoi is frequently useful in other situations where uniformity
is desired, and where an honest analysis would disclose that only one foreign
system of law is concerned at all. This, of course, is hard for some courts
to recognize, but there are many conflicts situations in which a supposed local
policy has no validity at all, even though the local policy may be very
strong when it deals with a situation which actually touches local interests.
Dean Ialconbridge repeats several times the point, which is obvious but
frequently overlooked, that the Bealeian vested-rights doctrine is itself logi-
cally committed to the complete acceptance of renvoi, although of course
that school denied its general applicability.
Substantial portions of the book are devoted to the problems of characteri-
zation. This is extremely desirable since, as Dean Falconbridge points out,
much, if not most, of the characterization done by courts is done uncon-
sciously. It is important that emphasis be put upon the inherent necessity of
characterizing at various levels in all conflicts problems. There is bound to
19491 BOOK REVIEWS

be some disagreement with the author's views on characterization, particu-

larly his proposition that characterization on the basis of comparative law is
theoretical and unsound. It is submitted that some knowledge of compara-
tive law is necessary for even a primitive approach to the problems of char-
acterization. So much of the characterization by the courts is unconscious
because so many judges and lawyers are not aware of the possible diver-
gent characterizations which another system might use. Without that basic
awareness, courts must continue to characterize unconsciously. Note that
characterization will be performed, because it is inherently. necessary. In
some places, Dean Falconbridge seems to approve of Robertson's third step
of accepting the classification of the system to which the conflicts rules of the
forum refer, but he definitely thinks that the doctrine of the "preliminary
question" is illusory. He seems to be afraid that secondary characterization
involves renvoi and a delivering "over to the tender mercies of a foreign law
the construction and application of the conflict rules of the forum."
The author is, apparently, generally writing for Canadian readers. * At
times he abandons an ideal analysis to enunciate the English or Canadian law.
Frequently, however, he evaluates English and Canadian cases and criticizes
them for reaching results that are not consistent with a sound system.. The
short comments on specific cases have long afforded teachers many interest-
ing additions to their lecture notes.
The author has several favorite views in addition to those already dis-
cussed. He repeats frequently the, point that there is a difference between
the question of the existence of a status and its incidents. While this is un-
doubtedly valid in a certain sense at least, it seems to overlook the fact that
the only reason we ever seek to determine status is to decide some question of
incident. It is suggested that when a court says that a foreign status ex-
ists, which looks and sounds similar to a local status but has different inci-
dents, in reality the court is saying that the two statuses are in fact different,
or that the particular incident is really an incident flowing from some other
operative fact and not an incident of the status.
One of the most important points which the author emphasizes is the
rather simple one that there is no such thing as the law of a British sub-
ject, of a citizen of the United States, or of a Canadian domiciliary.. In all
such cases, in which more than one "state" is comprehended in the national
state, the larger governmental division has, normally, no local rules, and no
conflicts rules at all, and the reference must be to Northern Ireland, or
Ontario, or New York, or some similar governmental unit. Not only con-
tinental courts but English and American courts have made the same error
and have from time to time taken "imaginary journeys into foreign coun-
tries."
In dealing with property, the author admits that the distinction between
jus ad rem and jus in re is not logical and may be non-existent. He as-
sumes its validity, however, though he returns to the invalidity several
times. One might wish that the author had been more critical in examining
this. Perhaps his conclusion as to the objection to exercising jurisdiction in
cases involving foreign land would have been altered if he had.
Other objections could be found to specific points and to specific analysis.
As the author states, however, conflict of laws is still in a primitive state. It
follows that any scholarly analysis and collection of authority can claim a
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. I
right to a hearing and a receptive mind. Mere disagreement, or casual ques-
tion as to validity, is no adequate reason to cast aside a proffered analysis
or study. Dean Falconbridge brings to the subject a scholarly, experienced
familiarity, and a mind that is willing to reconsider a previous position and
abandon it if former estimates later appear to have been ill-founded.
The best parts of the collection are the portions dealing with the analyti-
cal problems, the general considerations, the teleological functions, and the
basic concepts. Less vital but of real interest are the specific studies of par-
ticular English. and Canadian cases. It would have been desirable if Dean
Falconbridge could have extended his analytical critique to more numerous
fields, rather than in some portions contenting himself with finding what the
"law" is.
Lest the criticisms here made seem unduly unappreciative, let it be made
clear that the collection of material found in the book is scholarly, vital, and
interesting, and can be read and studied with great profit by anyone who
seeks to know more of the available material in the field and to test and
check his own thinking. It is only through scholarly studies of this sort
that conflict of laws will, as rapidly as is consistent with proper growth,
mature and develop into an honest, reasonable, intelligent, and fairminded
offspring of the law.
ELVIN E. OVERTON.
University of Tennessee.

THE JURISPRUDENCE OF INTLnESTS. Selected Writings of Max Riimelin,

Philipp Heck, Paul Oertmann, Heinrich Stoll, Julius Binder, and Her-
mann Isay. Translated and edited by M. Magdalena Schoch; with an In-
troduction by Lon L. Fuller. The Twentieth Century Legal Philosophy
,Series. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948. Pp. xxxii, 330.
$5.00.
Fifty years ago the dominant legal method was that of conceptual juris-
prudence. Today this method is discredited, and legal thought is dominated
by the method of determining evaluating, and balancing conflicting inter-
ests. The period in between has been filed with copious, lively, and some-
times heated discussions about the judicial process and legal methodology.
That story, wvhich forms the subject matter of the present book, sounds
familiar to American lawyers; only, it is told not for the United States
but for Germany, where there have taken place during the last five or six
decades methodological changes and inquiries which present startling parallel-
isms to simultaneous developments in this country. This fact alone should
indicate the relevancy to American lawyers of the German developments
and discussions. What renders the matter even more pertinent is the fact
that there have been stressed in Germany certain aspects which, while they
have been less emphasized in this country, would seem to deserve the care-
ful attention of American lawyers, too.
In both countries, here and in Germany, and, one might add, in France
as well, twentieth-century lawyers have reacted violently and decisively
against the nineteenth-century methods of conceptual jurisprudence. In this
country, the fight was principally carried on by the Realists, whose vigorous
and sometimes intemperate attacks successfully demolished the superstitious
1949] BooK REVIEWS

belief in the ability of classificatory concepts to yield rules for the decision of
novel cases. Realism has had its counterpart on the continent in the School
of Free Law. The achievements of both have been primarily negative.
They successfully destroyed the old methods of spurious conceptualism,
but in its place they offered to the judge only the advice that each case be
decided upon its own peculiar merits. The judge was thus elevated to the
leading position in the administration of justice, but he was left without
guidance, and legal stability and predictability would have been effectively
destroyed if judges had taken seriously the unfettered freedom that was
postulated for them. While agreeing with the Free Law jurists in their
criticisms of the old jurisprudence of concepts, the scholars of the German
school of jurisprudence of interests also undertook to elaborate a new method
which would serve as a guide in the judicial process, but which would simul-
taneously safeguard judicial faithfulness to the law, and thus legal stability
.and predictability, as effectively as the old jurisprudence of concepts, or even
more so. This school had its origin and for a long time its center at the
University of Tuebingen in South Germany, where it was represented pri-
marily by Max Riimelin (1861-1931), Philipp Heck (1858-1940), and a
group of younger scholars trained by them. While Riimelin's writings
constitute incisive studies of basic single problems, Heck undertook to elab-
orate a systematic presentation of the new method. A condensation of his
book on The Formation of Concepts and the Jurisprudence of Interests1
-constitutes the centerpiece of the present volume. Around it are grouped
several other essays by representatives of the Tuebingen school (Riimelin
and Stoll), an additional essay by Heck, and criticisms of the jurisprudence
of interests by two more conservative scholars (Oertmann and Binder)
and by a radical representative of the School of Free Law (Isay).
The presentations of the Tuebingen school clearly indicate those features
which constitute its positive achievements, viz., its inquiries into the reasons
why the old conceptualistic method was unsatisfactory, its guiding prin-
-ciples for the elaboration of different and more helpful legal concepts, and
its insistence upon the "legal system," i.e., the intrinsic structural unity
of the legal order. It is exactly in these respects that the German dis'cus-
sions will be helpful to American lawyers. In contrast to continental Free
Law jurists and American realists, the Tuebingen scholars have recognized
the necessity-nay, indispensability--of the use of concepts for all thinking
in general and legal thinking in particular. The old school erred not in that
it emphasized the use of concepts but in the way its concepts were formed
and utilized. Out of the innumerable simple commands of the legal order
were distilled major group concepts which were useful in the law teachers'
task of presenting the legal order to students and practitioners. Not only
was the scope of the material to be memorized or held ready for practical
reference greatly reduced in this way, but many a valuable insight into
the formal structure of the rules of law was made possible. However,
classificatory concepts of this kind are unable to yield new rules for new
cases; they are shorthand expressions of those existing rules from which
they were inductively derived, but they could not yield new insights in addi-
.tion to those which had gone into their formation. The belief that such new
1 BEGIFFtSBILDUING UND INTERESSENJUISPRUDENZ (1932).
 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. I
insights could be derived from the classificatory concepts was the ftnda-
mental error of the old school.
Following and elaborating ideas first effectively enunciated by Jhering,
Heck and his colleagues and disciples have emphasized the obvious but long-
forgotten truth that every rule of law constitutes the solution of a conflict of
interests. This conflict may exist between interests of individuals or groups
of individuals, or between interests of individuals and the community,
or even between different community interests-as, for instance, the interest
in the most equitable solution of a case and the sometimes incompatible in-
terest in facile applicability or certainty of the law. According to the Tue-
bingen school, the task of the lawyer is that of recognizing the interests
at 'tke in a given problem and to reconcile them in the way demanded by
the community. In his article reprinted in the present volume, Isay, the
Free Law jurist, charges Heck with having failed to establish a method in
which the evaluation of the conflicting interests and their reconciliation
ought to be achieved. 2 This criticism indicates that Isay has misunderstood
the most essential aspect of the method of Heck and Rilmelin, who insist
time and again upon the judge's subjection to the law. In evaluating and
balancihg conflicting interests the judge is not allowed to apply his own
value judgments but only those of the community of which he is a func-
tionary. The one source for the recognition of these social value judgments
is the enacted law. Every one of its rules constitutes the result of an evalua-
tion of interests made by the legislator. Judges and, as their helpers, legal
scholars must discover those hidden value judgments, must estimate them,
must express them in language with the help of concepts-yea, concepts-
and then use them in the decision of conflicts not yet expressly solved by the
legislator. In other words, the official value judgments underlying the solu-
tion of conflicts envisaged by the legislator must be applied by the judge
in the decision of conflicts not so provided for. This approach is thoroughly
positivistic and it is predicated upon the continental idea of the predominant
role of statute law. It may be too narrow and it needs further elaboration
when it is to be applied to a legal system of the type of the common law,
where the role of the legislator is a much more modest one. Even here, how-
ever, there remains in force the postulate that the judge is not to follow
his own value judgments but those, of the community, with the qualification
that the sources for the recognition of these value judgments are more com-
prehensive and more varied than the body of enacted law. There arises,
furthermore, the even more delicate problem of whose value judgments the
judge is to follow if, as is the case in modern democracies and especially in
the United States, different and sometimes conflicting social ideals are held
in the community. In these respects, it is true, the work of Heck and his
fellow scholars gives little help, and much elaboration will be needed if,
as it ought to be, it is to be utilized in this country. Important efforts
have already been made in this respect, however, in the United States, espe-
cially by Roscoe Pound, whose "sociological jurisprudence" and interest re-

2 Compare the well-known incident reported to have occurred in a Harvard class-

room. Student: "We have to balance the interests." Professor: "Go ahead and
balance them!"
1949] BOOK REVIEWS

search are closely akin to the endeavors of the German jurisprudence of

interests. In studying these endeavors American lawyers should pay spe-
cial attention to their German colleagues' consistent emphasis upon the in-
terest of inner consistency of the legal system as such. In a case-law system
this interest is only too easily overlooked. Having before him an individual
case and isolated precedents cited to him by opposing counsel, the judge
naturally seeks to find that decision which appears to him best to reconcile
the conflicting interests of the individual parties. The problem of whether
the decision thus formed is consistent with over-all policies of the community
does not readily present itself. Thus it happens that such over-all policies,
even important ones, are being hollowed out by incompatible individual
decisions. It is one of the over-all policies of American law, for instance,
that the assets of a decedent shall not be distributed to his beneficiaries
until, in proper proceedings, his creditors and the taxes have been paid and
the surviving spouse has had an opportunity to obtain his or her inde-
feasible share. This policy is being endangered and can easily be defeated
through decisions upholding third-party-beneficiary contracts mortis causa,
inter vivos trusts with extensive reservations for the settlor, and similar
subterfuge transactions. The policies .of marriage registration statutes
are undermined by decisions recognizing the validity of common-law mar-
riages in the teeth of such statutes or by the excessive use of judicially
created presumptions of the validity of a marriage. The policies of stat-
utes requiring registration for chattel mortgages are jeopardized by the
judicial preference for the mortgage over a bona fide purchaser acquiring
the chattel in another state. The illustrations could be continued ad infini-
tum. Sometimes it seems that the only policy consistently maintained in
American law is that of the Rule against Perpetuities. Of all the differences
alleged to exist between common law and modem civil law, the one which
really can stand close analysis is that between the internal cdnsistency of the
civil law systems and the inconsistency of the common law. This fact can
hardly be regarded as an advantage of the common law. By the case
method of legal instruction the tendency toward inconsistency is even in-
creased. Law teachers who are aware of the danger and wish to counter-
act it will find valuable suggestions in the work of Heck, his colleagues, and
his critics.
American lawyers will find the book, with the sole exception of one chap-
ter, not only most highly profitable but also easily readable. The task of
translation was not an easy one. Doctor Magdalena Schoch has solved
it with superb skill. She has further facilitated the reader's use of the book
by numerous explanations of foreign terms and by other scholarly notes.
A fascinating introduction by Professor Fuller summarizes the various
essays and elucidates their special significance for the methodology of Amer-
ican law.
The one essay which one or the other reader may, perhaps, find difficult
is that by Binder. Yet he should not be deterred. The study will prove
profitable not only because of the author's fine historical observations and
his allusions to case law, but also as a typical exposition of Hegelianism.
An acquaintance with this philosophical system which will help in the under-
standing of recent and contemporary world events-Hegel, it might be re-
474 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION [VOL. 1

membered, being among the ideological progenitors of both National Social-

ism and Marxism. As for the essays of Heck and his other colleagues, I
know no other work which I would regard as more helpful in the further
development of a sound American theory of legal method and the judicial
process.
MAx RHENSTEIN.
U(tiveirsity of Chicago.